Cyborgs Are Here And You'd Better Get Used To It

I write about AI, data, deep tech & self-management in the digital age

Could Stelarc, the legendary Australian performance artist seen here in his exoskeleton, be a vision of the future?

Henry Krul, Robodock 2005

Cyborgs are among us already. Not the human-weapon hybrids that exist in children's imaginations and terrible horror movies, but a far more efficient variety that is mostly indistinguishable from non-modified humans. Advances in medical technology can help mitigate conditions that were considered incurable until recently, and new developments in neuroscience could help us cure brain disorders or even ‘read minds’.

As part of the growing ‘transhumanist’ movement, people have also implanted sensors into their bodies in order to evolve their art form or to push the limits of human experience. As new technologies such as artificial intelligence and 3D printing bring ever more possibilities, are we about to lose the boundary between human and machine?

Bionic bodies

The technology of prosthetic limbs has progressed exponentially over the last few decades as newly developed materials have led to more practical and comfortable solutions, and the increasing availability of 3D printing has recently allowed advanced prosthetics to reach the developing world. There have also been promising steps in improving biological communication to help integrate artificial limbs and to manipulate biological signals to our advantage.

Researchers from MIT last year revealed a new surgical technique which allows a person to receive ‘feedback [...] that tells their brain where their prosthetic limbs are in space’, according to lead author Shriya Srinivasan. Accidents or amputations tend to leave muscle pairs without their correspondent part, leading to conditions such as phantom limb syndrome that affects over 80% of amputees. The MIT team’s technique uses a muscle graft from another part of the body to complete the muscle pair, avoiding rejection which currently occurs in around 20% of cases, and allowing the patient to communicate naturally with the new limb.

Technological advances such as this are enabling us to achieve things never before possible, and are teaching us more about how our brains communicate with the body. A new technique called ‘epidural stimulation’ has recently been announced that enabled five paraplegic patients to regain movement in two separate studies at the University of Louisville (UoL) and the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota. The technique involves implanting an array of electrodes below a spinal cord injury to amplify the weakened brain signals that are still transmitted to a patient’s legs. Dr. Claudia Angeli, a co-author of the UoL study, said ‘it is like [the spine] is more aware, it actually can listen to that little whisper from the brain that is still there’, thus creating an artificial link between brain and body by enhancing biological signals.

Modifying minds

Manipulating electrical signals in the body is a fascinating step towards communicating between humans and machines, but implants in the brain itself can even change our perception of reality. Neil Harbisson had a sensor implanted in his head in 2003 which allows him to ‘hear color’ by detecting the color frequency in front of him, translating it into a sound and transmitting the sound via bone conduction to his brain. In his massively popular TED talk, Harbisson describes how this link between color and sound soon became a perception, even allowing him to dream in color at which point he felt that ‘the software and my brain had been united’. Harbisson can also now perceive infrared and ultraviolet light, and in 2010 he co-founded the Cyborg Foundation with Moon Ribas (who senses earthquakes in her elbow) to encourage more people to artificially elevate their senses.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink company has also expressed ambitions of technologically enhancing humanity, by merging artificial intelligence (AI) with our own brains. Neuralink, or more specifically Neural Lace technology, consists of a nano-mesh of electrodes that encompass and eventually integrate with the brain, allowing us to upload and download digital information directly. Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience, Musk claimed that our attachment to mobile devices means that we are already cyborgs, ‘it’s just that the data rate is slow’ due to our clumsy finger-based output. Neuralink would increase the ‘bandwidth’ of this data flow, allowing us to interact directly with our digital selves and even ‘upload into a new unit’ should our biological body die.

We can, but should we?

This kind of technology raises all kinds of ethical questions around whether we should enhance our brains this way, what the risks might be (‘brain hacking’ does not sound pleasant) and whether it would create an unbridgeable divide between those who can afford to become cyborgs and those who cannot. If the transhumanist movement is right though, we can’t ignore the potential of humanity to improve ourselves, and projects like Neuralink or epidural stimulation ‘will enable us to overcome fundamental human limitations’ such as aging, paralysis or the power of our brains.

The concept of cyborgism has fascinated us for generations, but it is more pertinent now than ever as we source the materials and technology to achieve truly symbiotic implants and attachments. As we get used to the idea of connecting everything to the internet, AI programmes working for us, and having a digital clone of ourselves, should we adapt our minds and bodies as well?

Charles Towers-Clark is Group CEO of Pod Group, an IoT connectivity & billing software provider. His book ‘The WEIRD CEO’ covers AI & the future of work. Follow him @ctowersclark